A Curse to Last Forever
by LucieClark
Summary: After Zinaida and Lucie's home burned down and everyone killed by the fires or pirates, they steal a pirate ship themselves and gather their own crew of girls. Eventually, they find out Blackbeard is angry at them for taking one of the ships from his fleet. Not only that, the girls are suspected to be pirates by the British Navy. This IS a Percy Jackson Story, just not at first.
1. Chapter 1

Her heart was racing as she flew through streets. Lucie ran as fast as she could. She had to reach her mother before they got there. She had to warn her about the pirates that invaded the town. Her feet moved faster as she tried to push through the crowds and avoid any of those evil men who tried to follow her. She had never been fast, but because of her small figure, she was able to easily weave her way through any crowds.

It didn't take her too long to reach the front door of her house, but unfortunately, the door was already wide open. She was too late. She looked in the doorway just to see her mother as she was killed by one of the pirates. She screamed at the sight of her mother falling to the ground. The pirate turned around to the sound of her voice. He grinned as if he found his next prey and began to slowly advance towards her. Lucie tried to back away, but found herself tripping over her skirts. The pirate, now standing right over her, raised his sword for another kill. She closed her eyes and raised her hands in defense, but the sword never came down. Lucie looked up to see Mr. Wright, the butcher, using his chopping knife to block the sword.

Grateful for the butcher's help, Lucie ran inside to find her mother lying on the floor, bleeding from a wound in her side. She was still alive, but just barely.

"Lucie." Her mother's eyes fixed on her daughter and she scrambled to stop the bleeding.

"Mom, please don't leave me. Not with father." Tears welled up in her eyes and Lucie tried to desperately to keep the blood from flowing out. "Don't leave me alone with him."

"No... Lucie, listen," her mother gasped. Lucie stopped what she was doing to meet her mother's eyes. "He is not your true father."

"What?" Lucie searched her mother's face, trying to find answers.

"Your true father came from somewhere else, but he couldn't stay. He left before you were born. No one knows this but you and I. Tell no one."

"Mom, please don't die, tell me who he is!" Tears streamed down Lucie's face as she looked at her mother. She already looked lifeless and dull. Lucie lay beside her mother, careful to avoid the blood, and cried herself to sleep.

* * *

"Lucie, wake up," Zinaida, Lucie's best friend, woke her up from her dream. Two years since her mother's death, and still the grief weighed on her like stone.

"Already," she sighed.

"Come on, before your family wakes up." Zinaida started to pull Lucie out of bed.

"All right, go down and start breakfast, I will be there in a bit." Lucie stretched and Zinaida left the room. Ever since her mother's death, her friend came over to help her with the chores around the house. If Lucie's brothers and father had been a little nicer to her, they would help clean up instead of making more messes. She sighed, it couldn't really be helped. She wished that her brothers were not rude. They ignored her except at meal times. If her brothers were nicer, then maybe she would like them a little more. She pulled on her skirts and then went downstairs to help Zinaida with breakfast.

"As soon as your family leaves do you want to take a walk through town?" Zinaida asked Lucie as they started to cook breakfast. "I heard pirates were coming to port."

"Isn't that old news, people said that last week too," Lucie said, pushing a strand of dark brown hair out of the way.

"Well, it's true this time," Zinaida looked at Lucie with her electric blue eyes. "I saw the ship out in the distance last night. It seemed like they were trying to figure out where to dock."

"If those were pirates, I hope they don't come into town," Lucie frowned, remembering last time pirates came.

"Just because one of them killed your mother doesn't mean they're all bad. I think people misjudge them. That's why they destroy go out and destroy people's homes." Zinaida said. "I want a closer look at one just so I can form my own opinions about them."

"Pirates are just mean. They don't have a heart. Last time was close enough for me, and they don't smell too good." Lucie wrinkled her nose at the thought.

"I didn't see any," Zinaida complained. "I'm going to the docks whether you come or not." Lucie sighed, Zinaida was too stubborn. Once she made up her mind, there was no changing it. At least not with this subject. Ever since the last pirates attack, all Zinaida wanted was to see a pirate. Last time, her brother Sergei shoved Zinaida down their cellar before anything happened, but her friend had wanted to see the pirates and not just spend her time in the dusty cellar. Lucie decided to just drop the conversation altogether.

They let the food cook for a little bit and started to set the table, just as Josias came down for breakfast.

"Have you finished cooking yet?" he asked in a whiny tone.

"We just started, so it will be a bit before the food's done," said Lucie, setting the last of the plates while Zinaida went to fetch milk.

"It's going to take forever," Josias complained.

"Food does not take that long to cook. Its just your impatience that makes it seem longer." Lucie glanced out the window. "James should be here soon," she muttered to herself. He tended to be early just because of the thought of food. The front door opened and James walked in.

"Hello, Lucie, what're you cooking?" James said, sniffing the air with his nose up.

"You'll see," she replied distractedly. "Please run upstairs and make sure our brothers are awake and ready to come down."

"Do I have to?" James complained. "I'm starving!"

"Well, unless you don't want any food. That's fine with me." Lucie said and James trudged upstairs reluctantly.

She checked to see if the food was done when she heard everyone walking downstairs. She also heard Zinaida coming back into the kitchen. Most of her brothers would come from upstairs, but there were still two brothers who have not arrived. As soon as Lucie heard knocks on the door, she ran to open it. The twins Roger and Robert came in and walked over to sit at the seemed to be in the middle of an argument, so they did not acknowledge their sister at all. James, Henry, Peter, Josias and their father were all sitting at the table. Zinaida, who had walked in after the twins, began to pour the milk. After the girls had served everyone, they sat down at the table in the kitchen to eat their meal. Lucie preferred eating in the kitchen because it was out of the way of her noisy family and she could talk privately with Zinaida.

"Why can't your brothers learn to cook themselves?" Zinaida whispered.

"Because it's a women's chore," Lucie whispered back, imitating her step-father's voice. She was annoyed that none of her brothers had ever bothered to learn, not even the ones that had already moved out of the house.

Same as every morning, Lucie's brothers would leave to school or to work, leaving Lucie and Zinaida to clean the kitchen and tidy the rest of the house.

"After we are done cleaning let's take a walk through town, and of course, we need to go to the docks," Zinaida said.

"Sounds like a plan," Lucie mimicked James, her father, or more like step- father or something if her mother was correct.

When her family had finished eating, Lucie went to clear the table as Zinaida began washing the pots. As soon as they were done, Lucie let Zinaida braid her hair, so it was out of the way. The girls would walked down to the bakery to buy some bread for dinner and walk down to the port so they could watch for pirates.

"I don't think there will be any here today, just like the last hundred times," Lucie said, but Zinaida wasn't listening, so she just watched as the waves rolled in and out under the docks, somehow fascinated by each wave.

Finally, Zinaida grew bored of waiting for pirates, so they started walking back towards her house to relax for a while. They didn't walk far until a dark plume of smoke was spotted in the distance. Other people seemed to notice it as well and some were walking over to that part of town while others had were heading the other way.

"I hope that is not what I think it is." Zinaida said staring into the distance.

"I don't know," Lucie said. "Let's check it out." Zinaida nodded, and they changed their course to walk towards the smoke. Lucie suddenly stopped when she saw more smoke not far from the first one. That's when she realized a fire was spreading quickly, and was already out of control.

"Come on, Zinaida," Lucie started pulling on her arm. "We need to run." It was no use. Zinaida's feet were glued to that spot as she stared at someone. That's when Lucie saw him; a pirate just dirty as all the rest with his ragged clothing and crooked toothed grin. The streets were already chaotic from the fire, so when he was spotted everyone seemed to just run faster.

Finally, Zinaida snapped out of her trance. She grabbed Lucie's arm and they dashed down the street. Running all the way to the docks was hard enough but smoke slowly began to fill the air making it hard to breathe. Soon Lucie and Zinaida were coughing, struggling to suck in enough air. They ran until Lucie felt like she was going to pass out but still continued on.

Part way through, Lucie lost sight of Zinaida. She tried to search for her friend, but through the flames, smoke, and people, it was impossible to see far. She stopped to try and get her bearings, but she could not see much of the buildings around her.

In the confusion, Lucie saw her brother, James, run by with a baseball bat and try to put out the flames with it. She was amused by how he ran around trying to hit each flame. Eventually, the bat caught on fire, and James panicked, hitting the flames even harder. Lucie sighed at his stupidity and grabbed a bucket of water that she found in the street nearby. She marched over and dumped the water all over her brother and the bat.

"What are you trying to do?" she shouted at her idiot brother.

"I was trying to put the fires out." James replied almost innocently. If a twenty-two year old could look innocent.

"With a bat?" Lucie could not believe his stupidity. Her brother was an adult, yet he was still this stupid.

"Yep," James said. "A baseball bat is the answer to everything."

"You really are an idiot," Lucie turned and started to trying to figure out where to go. James ran off, but she didn't care where he went.

One pirate spotted her still standing in the middle of all the chaos, and she decided it was time to go and ran towards where she assumed port would be. Most the way, she found herself running over corpses, under people and ducking to avoid an occasional sword slice. She must have nearly tripped over her skirts multiple times, yet Lucie still ran. When she finally reached the port, she stopped gasping for breath. She looked back to find the fire had nearly reached the end of town, amazed by how fast the whole place burned. Soon, only ashes were left.

Some people already reached the water and were trying to hide below the docks, but others still ran in panic inside the town. Lucie hesitated, she should walk down to the water for safety, but Zinaida was still nowhere in sight. She wanted to run back and find her friend, but she was not sure how many pirates there were in town. After a little more hesitation, she ran back into the fire.

Few people were still running in panic, but most were dead. Lucie ran around stumbling over people and partially destroyed buildings. Pretty soon, she was covered in ash from all the times she fell. Her skirts had been singed from the fire and she doubted her face looked any better. The sun began to sink in the sky, but there was still no sign of Zinaida. The whole town was gone, and as far as she could see, everyone was either burnt to death or killed by a pirate.

She searched until sunset, but only smoke was left rising from the ashes. Zinaida could be anywhere and she had no idea where to look. Finally, she decided to walk slowly back to port where she could watch the waves roll in and out on the beach, and wait for the sun to rise again. She sat down on the sand and tried to think of where Zinaida could have disappeared off to. Lucie refused to believe that her friend was back there lying dead among the ashes. The sun sank lower and lower till the whole world was finally bathed in darkness.

* * *

**This is the first story I have written so I hope you enjoyed this chapter. This will be a Percy Jackson story but the first two books wont have much to do with it. If your wondering about the baseball bat part there was one time when I was at camp where my brother somehow caught the table on fire and said, "A baseball bat is the answer to everything." I had to put that in here after i heard him say that. Please review!**


	2. Chapter 2

**This is a percy jackson story it just wont seem like it at first.**

"Lucie, run!" she woke up to find Zinaida's mother, Genevieve, racing down the beach with about a dozen pirates right behind her. As quick as she could, Lucie stood up and ran down into the water. As soon as her feet touched the waves, Lucie looked back to see a sword cut straight through the heart of the woman who was closest person Lucie had to a mother since her real one died. Before the pirates noticed Lucie standing there in the shallows, she ran and hid under the dock.

Lucie listened and waited for the pirates to finally walk away from their kill. When Lucie thought the pirates would never leave, she heard them tramping of feet as they trudged up the path. Carefully, Lucie poked her head out to see if all of them left. When not even their shouts could be heard, she cautiously walked over to where Genevieve lay.

Blood stained the sand and her blond hair was caked with mud. Ash stained her skirt and her hands and face were no better. Lucie checked for any sign of life but there was none. Her second mother she ever had was dead. Just like two years ago in the last pirate attack. Lucie hated pirates. Only destruction and death ever came from them.

Sadly Lucie walked away from Zinaida's mother. She looked at what was left of the town and wished that the pirates could have been stopped. There was no turning back, not when this place was ashes. Lucie was going to get as far away from here as she could as soon as possible, but first, she had to find anyone else who had escaped the fires.

Slowly, Lucie started to pick her way through the rubble that use be the street people would walk on to get wherever they were going. The street she and Zinaida used to walk to the port just to look for pirate ships, but they never really found one. Lucie walked up to Zinaida's house and looked at the ashes that was one a place to stay and rest. Now, nearly everything had been burnt away.

Lucie heard the loud footsteps of pirates again and looked around for a place to hide. The ashes of this place did not provide many hiding places, but Lucie remembered the cellar underneath Zinaida's house. She ran towards the door and lifted it up. Lucie ran down the stairs, remembering to close the door behind her before running all the way down. She quickly ran to one of the corners at the back and tried to be completely quiet. After a few minutes of no sound, Lucie relaxed.

"Who's there?" a familiar voice called out into the darkness.

"Zinaida! It's Lucie." She stared into the dark trying to locate where the voice came from.

"Lucie!" Zinaida lit a lantern from the opposite corner where Lucie was. "Oh, it is you! Where have you been?"

"Running from pirates, what about you?" Lucie walked over to her friend excited that at least she was not taken away.

"In this cellar the whole time," Zinaida replied, "My mom was in here too, but she left to see if it was safe." At this, Lucie remembered wa she saw earlier and sat down on the cold, stony floor. How was she ever going to tell Zinaida? "Lucie what's wrong?"

"No, it's just, I saw your mom earlier." Lucie said looking up into Zinaida's eyes.

"Is she okay?" When Lucie didn't respond Zinaida asked again, "Is she okay? Tell me, please."

"They killed her," Lucie choked out, "I saw them kill her."

"No, she said she would be back, she couldn't have died," Zinaida sat beside Lucie and stared out in the darkness of the cellar, "She couldn't have died."

"Well she did," Lucie said quietly, "and we will too if we don't get out of here."

"All right," Zinaida said standing up, "Let's go."

"No, wait, not now," Lucie grabbed her friend's arm.

"Why not?" Zinaida said.

"Because pirates were out there when I came down," Lucie answered. "We should wait before going up."

"All right," Zinaida answered.

Once they thought pirates were gone, Lucie lifted up the trap door and looked out to make absolutely sure no one was there. When she heard nothing, Lucie walked all the way out into the bright, sunlit day. Zinaida walked out behind her and together, they silently made their way over to the wood at the edge of town. With some disagreement on where they would actually go, the overall choice was to escape into the forest.

Even though there were no pirates to be seen, Lucie did not relax until they were deep into the forest. Even then, she listened carefully for any sound that were unfamiliar. Everything was quiet; not even the birds sang their songs.

For about an hour, nothing could be heard until they came close to the other side of the forest. First, they only heard one shout. Then, a whole lot of yelling and arguing.

"What an odd pirate ship." Zinaida said as they finally reached the end of the forest. To Lucie, it was the most beautiful ship she had ever seen and it was different from any ship she had seen in port. The masthead was the head of a silvery wolf with glassy eyes that actually looked real. Painted in gold letters at the side was the words Lupi Mari. The sail once white had turned to a sickly yellow and a black crossbones pirate flag flapped in the wind.

"So this is where the ship went," Zinaida said,"I was wondering why it was not at port."

"Yeah, and the fires came from the back of town," Lucie thought back to when they first saw the smoke rising from the town. These pirates were smart. "This is a beautiful ship. I just wish it was not in the hands of pirates."

"Glad ye think so kindly o' it," the unfamiliar voice made her jump, "But tell me, how did ye find yeer way 'ere?" Lucie turned around to find who she guessed was the captain of this ship. Behind him was a handful of his colleagues. Lucie thought she was as good as dead. "Come on board," the captain said. "Aye, I wanna know more of the only survivors of my attack."

* * *

Okay so i know it does noit seem like a percy jackson story but it will be. This does mention Blackbeard though.

Please review.


	3. Chapter 3

Lucie shifted nervously on her chair in the captain's cabin as the captain himself studied Lucie and Zinaida. Finally after a long pause, he said, "How is it that ye escaped me pirates and the fires we set to yer town?"

Lucie shrugged and Zinaida said, "Maybe because your pirates are not good enough to find us."

"We all 'ave somethin' to learn, don't we?" the captain said. "Since ye managed to escape everything me pirates sent after ye, I'll 'ave to give ye a little reward."

"What will our reward be?" Lucie said, dreading his answer.

"Ye get to live o' course," the captain said, "But ye will work on the ship."

"I knew there'd be a catch," Zinaida whispered, then said aloud, "What will you be expecting us to do?"

"What Clara does, o' course."

"And what is that?" Zinaida asked, unsatisfied with his answer.

"Ye will see. Now, I think its time we meet 'er." and the captain stood up and lead the way out of his cabin.

As soon as Lucie met Clara, she knew that they could be friends. The girl had short blond hair and dark blue eyes. Lucie could tell that she had been on the ship for a while because her dress was torn in multiple places and had many stains. If you didn't know her, you would think she was a pirate just by looks. Lucie knew the difference. Instead of blood and vengeance in her eyes, there was that hollow sadness.

"So... what exactly will we be doing?" Lucie said after the captain left.

"Cooking food, cleaning, and staying out of the pirates' way," Clara answered.

"Sounds like what we use to do," Zinaida said as took a look around in the kitchen. "Just this time we are serving a whole crew of bloody pirates."

"Anyways, it's about time we get dinner started," Clara said, "We need to get it done before the pirates raid the kitchen."

Life on a pirate ship is boring. Nothing happened. All the pirates did was the normal work anybody would do on a ship. There was the occasional fight when their arguments got to be a little more than words. Other than that, nothing happened.

One night, Lucie lay down on her cot wishing that she lived somewhere else besides a pirate ship. Even if she had to go back to life at her old home, Clovelly. Lucie would rather serve her brothers and her father than this bunch of pirates. At least there stuff happened, and she had a chance to get away from them. There, she could walk down to port looking for pirate ships that would never come. Here, Lucie's only safety was the kitchen and the little room beside it where the girls slept. Lucie slowly fell asleep to the rocking of the ship.

That night, she dreamed for the first time since she came to live on the pirate ship. Lucie was sitting on the head of the wolf looking down upon the pirates as they moved about the ship doing their work. As Lucie watched, she saw the captain come out to make sure his crew was still at work. As soon as the captain reached the middle of the deck, the ropes burst into action. They moved by themselves to tie up each pirate and lift them off the deck.

"After you capture the pirates you can do whatever you want with them." Lucie looked down to figure out that it was the wolf who spoke to her.

"Why do you want me to capture these pirates?" Lucie asked, a little surprised that the wolf of the ship was talking to her.

"I don't want my captain to be a pirate anymore. I want to chose my own captain. So I choose you," the Lupi Mari replied.

"Me? Are you sure?" Lucie said, "But I'm only a girl."

"I don't care if you're a girl or not. I think you will be a great captain." The Lupi Mari tried to look up at Lucie but only ended up tipping her onto the deck. Lucie hit the floor with a thud, but it didn't hurt her. She looked back onto the deck below and saw, instead of pirates suspended in the air, a crew of girls standing idle on the deck. Every girl had her own sword by her side and they were all laughing with each other freely. They all seemed so happy.

"How can a crew of girls control a ship? We are not strong like men." Lucie said.

"Simple, I can sail myself," the Lupi Mari said, "I know what to do and when. All you need to do is make it look like you're the one sailing this ship."

"What about the rope trick?" Lucie said.

"All you need to do is think about what you want, and I will take care of the rest," the Lupi Mari said. With that, she turned back to wood and Lucie's dream faded away.

"Hey, Lucie," Zinaida said, "Are you gonna sleep all morning. We need to get breakfast started."

"Yah, I'm up," Lucie said. "I need to go up and get some fresh air."

"You sure?" Zinaida asked. "What will the captain do if he catches you on the deck before breakfast is done?"

"What can he do?" Lucie answered and Zinaida gave her a funny look.

"All right, just be careful," Zinaida watched Lucie walk out the door that lead to the hall.

From there, Lucie took the stairs up onto the main deck. Every pirate was already up and working. Only the captain was not present, but that didn't matter. A couple of the pirates noticed Lucie, but they didn't bother her too much.

"You ready?" the Lupi Mari spoke in Lucie's mind.

"Yep, lets do it," Lucie answered and the ropes came to life. Just like in her dream the pirates were flung into the air and, of course, the captain came on deck to see what all the trouble was. Lucie laughed at his surprise when he was also thrown into the air along with his crew.

"Hey! No girl can beat us like this," the captain yelled down at Lucie. "Get me down from here and let's fight fair and square!"

Lucie smiled, "I'm afraid I can't do that. I have no sword so either way it's not a fair fight."

"Can't do what?" Zinaida asked as she walked up on deck with Clara. "We heard all the noise and wanted to make sure you were fine."

"Why are all the pirates suspended in the air?" Clara asked, tipping her head back to look up at them.

"Ummmm, I told the ship to do this," Lucie answered.

"The ship did this?" Clara asked.

"Yep, I will tell you later," Lucie said, "For now, let's put these pirates in the brig."

"Won't we need them to steer the ship?" Zanaida asked.

"The ship can steer herself, I will explain later." Lucie said, willing the ropes to take the swords, the captain, and his crew. Lucie grabbed one and pointed it at the captain just as he was let back on to the ground. "Into the brig, now," she ordered.

Grudgingly, the captain moved forward down the steps and Lucie followed after him. A few of the pirates tried to lunge towards the swords but the ropes held them back. Clara and Zinaida stayed back to make sure all the pirates followed down the stairs.

"Hand me your keys," Lucie said as soon as they reached the barred door of the brig. The captain handed the keys to Lucie and walked inside with a hesitant step. Lucie waited until the whole line of pirates entered the brig, and then she locked the door behind them.

"We'll bring you food down later." Lucie said and walked calmly upstairs.

"Will you finally tell us what this is all about?" Zinaida asked as soon as Lucie reached the kitchen. "Why do suddenly think we can sail a ship by ourselves? We are just girls!"

"Who says we are the ones sailing the ship, and maybe girls can do more than people think," Lucie said.

"Then who is the one sailing the ship?" Clara asked, setting breakfast on the table.

"Well I had this dream last night..." Quickly, Lucie explained what the Lupi Mari said and how they were to sail this ship.

"Wait... so we are to believe that somehow this ship has its own spirit?" Zinaida asked. "And that it chose you as captain?"

"Yep, it's your choice to believe me or not," Lucie said, "For now, let's transform this from a pirate ship into our ship." As soon as breakfast was done and all the pirates fed, the three girls went down into the hold to see what was there.

"This place is a mess," Zinaida said as they walked in.

"No kidding," Lucie said as she walked over to one of the crates and studied its spilled contents. "Looks like all they wanted was to get to the rum."

"This ship was not owned by pirates for too long." Zinaida said. "There would not have been so much stuff here."

"Well, we better get started," Clara said, "Let's put all we are going to keep in another room."

Lucie nodded and soon the girls were hard at work moving crates and crates of objects. Some was just stacked to the side but others were moved to a different room. Many of the items they came by were too odd for pirates to have, so the girls figured that this ship use to belong to some trader, most likely dead. Lucie, Clara, and Zinaida worked half the day cleaning the room and finally finished by the time lunch time rolled around.

After lunch, Lucie replaced their cots in the kitchen with new, clean ones found in the hold. Then, the three girls went from room to room to see what they could find. Also, they looked for anything that needed to be replaced as far as furniture went. In the room where the crew slept, they moved all the cots to the side to make room in the middle for a table. By each cot, they planned to buy a little cupboard for girls to store their personal items.


	4. Chapter 4

"Hey, Lucie, do you have the keys? There is a door over here that's locked!" Zinaida yelled down the hall to Lucie. "Why didn't we see it before?" Lucie said, walking down to the room where the girls had put all the stuff to sell. Clara was in there too, organizing a few of the boxes. "The door is disguised." Zinaida answered. "It looked like part of the wall, at first, but I saw the lock." "Hey, there is," Lucie grabbed out the key ring and started trying to fit each key in the lock. "None of them work," she said after trying each key. "Let me try," Zinaida said, but she came up with the same result. She sighed, "It would be nice to be able to use this door. Maybe the captain hid the key somewhere?" "No, as far as I know, there was no talk about a secret door," Clara answered while walking over. "The pirates of the crew could not keep secrets. Not even the captain. Are you sure they don't work?" "Yeah, we tried every single key twice," Zinaida replied. "Wait! Let me try something," Lucie put her hand against the door and called to the wolf of the ship. She tried the door and it opened easily. "Okay, how did you do that?" Clara asked. "Was the door stuck?" "Nope, it was locked. I asked the ship to unlock it," Lucie sad. "You asked the ship?" Zinaida said. "Yes." "Alright, you're the captain. You're at least meant to be," Zinaida said. "You obviously have some kind of connection with the ship." She was the first to walk through the secret door.

The room was almost completely empty. All the shelves were empty. At the end of the room, there was a sword rack with about thirteen swords. Hanging near the sword rack was about an equal number of dresses. Each dress was a different color and each had its own matching cloak with it.

"I could certainly use a new dress," Clara said while she looked down at her soiled dress she was wearing. "I think we all could." Zinaida laughed as they all looked down at their dresses. The three girls walked down to the other end of the room, near where the dresses were.. Lucie searched through the dresses until she came across a dark sea green dress with little tridents embroidered on the sleeves and at the waist. The cloak was also a dark green with little tridents around the edges. She took the dress off the rack and tried it on. The dress fit perfectly, and it felt so light and warm at the same time. Lucie was sure this dress would not get tangled around her legs like the old one did.

"What do you think?" Zinaida asked.

Lucie turned around to see Zinaida wearing a striking blue dress with a strange lightning bolt design embroidered on it. It had black lace along the edges, and it had a matching blue hat. It's sleeves were that of a tank top. It looked to be a bit cold, but when she slipped on the matching cloak, it looked much better. Lucie particularly loved the hat. The dress and everything that went along with it simply was exactly made for her friend.

"It suits you," Lucie mentioned.

"This is much better than those old dresses," Clara said. Lucie looked over to see that she was wearing a black dress that greatly contrasted her pale skin. There was ivory white lace around the edges and hanging from the neckline was a fiery red ruby. The sleeves only went down to the elbow but the cape, which was black as the dress would keep her warm. "Let's finish organizing these crates before we reach land, shall we?"

"By the way," Zinaida said. "When are we going to reach land?"

"The Lupi Mari said we would reach land in about a week," Lucie answered. "So we still have time to get everything organized before we reach land."

"When did she say that?" Clara asked. "Yesterday."

"What else can this ship do?" Zinaida asked rhetorically as they walked back out of the room. Lucie smiled before following her friend out of the newly found room.

The following day, Zinaida mentioned, "I think we should try to learn how to fight with swords since we have them." The three girls were in that mysterious room once again, this time studying the swords that were in the back. "We may need to know how to use them later, I imagine. Especially against more pirates."

"My father made swords, and he taught me how to use one," Clara said. "He even made a sword for me."

"Then you can teach us how to use them," Lucie said.

"Well, the sword needs to be perfectly balanced. It can't be too light or too heavy, or too long or too short. The grip must be comfortable, if you want to fight well," Clara said while picking up one sword to try it out.

Lucie reached in and grabbed a sword. Immediately, she understood what Clara said. This sword was definitely too heavy for her to wield, so she put it down and tried another one. Lucie kept searching for one that would work. After around seven or eight tries, she finally found a sword that felt right in her hands.

Zinaida was having issues, too, until she came upon the first sword Lucie tried. She held it in her palm and inspected it. The metal was a bright gold color, the hilt a darker metal. The grip was leather bound. Overall, the blade was beautiful to look at. "This one's perfect for me."

"Are you kidding? That one was even too heavy for Clara!"

"Really, this sword was too heavy for you?" Zinaida asked, directing her question more towards Clara than Lucie.

Clara nodded. "It was too heavy for me to even really hold. Maybe you just have strong arms, Zinaida."

"That's interesting..." she murmured, her eyes resting once yet again on the beautiful blade.

Looking at Zinaida's blade made Lucie want to take a closer look at hers. Her sword was a lot like Zinaida's, but it wasn't golden. It was like bronze, only slightly different. She wasn't quite sure why, but it didn't appear to be regular bronze. The blade part of the sword was wickedly sharp, and the hilt was the same shade. The leather handle was like someone painted it a sea blue.

On all of their swords, they had strange little charms. Zinaida and Clara had two. Lucie noticed she had three. Zinaida and Clara's charms were both the same. They each had one bow charm, like a hunter's bow. They also had a quiver to match the bow charm. Lucie's had both the bow and quiver charm, too, but she had another of a different sword. She seemed to be the only one to notice them, too. She wondered why they were there, but didn't pay it much more mind.

The three girls went outside to the top deck to practice fighting with their swords. First Clara decided she'd train Zinaida. "I want to see your abilities with the sword first. I want to see if you really do have good upper body strength..."

Lucie watched with intent eyes as Zinaida stepped forward and took a stance. "That's actually a good stance..." Clara mentioned. "Now, come at me with the first attack you think of."

Lucie was intrigued. Zinaida unsheathed the blade and stepped towards Clara with an attempted strike. Clara easily blocked, but she looked a bit surprised. She didn't say anything, though. Zinaida whirled around and swung her sword towards Clara's side. Clara blocked once yet again, but the look of surprise still was shown in her features. Clearly, Zinaida wanted to try something different. She sidestepped and blocked Clara's attack, but twisted her sword. Clara's new sword fell to the floor of the deck with a thud.

"Zinaida! I've never even seen that move before. Where on earth did you learn it?"

"I don't know," she answered, staring at the blade with a solemn look.

"You're a natural," Clara said with a smile. "Lucie! Your turn."

Lucie unsheathed her sword while she walked over to Clara. "Zinaida, you were incredible! I can't believe you've never fought with a sword before," she mentioned when she walked past her closest friend.

"Thank you."

"Now, Lucie, it's time for you to show me what you can do," Clara said.

"Okay," she said, trying to take a stance like Zinaida did, but didn't find it comfortable or natural. She walked to Clara with hesitation, so Clara struck first. Lucie narrowly blocked the hit to her arm. She took a step forward but stumbled on a loose plank of wood on the deck. Clara hadn't taken advantage of her almost trip, but she did strike Lucie once she regained balance. Lucie focused on fighting, and she managed to block all of Clara's hits, but not disarm her.

"It's okay you're not a natural like Zinaida. Most people take years of training to get good."

"I want to try fighting against Zinaida, though," Lucie said.

"Are you sure?" Clara asked.

"Yes," she answered. Zinaida walked to Lucie with her unsheathed sword. "Lucie... this will be interesting."

She immediately surprised Lucie by attacking almost instantaneously. Lucie barely managed to block the swing from Zinaida, aimed towards her leg. Lucie sighed as she struck back towards her friend, aiming for the arm. She seemed to easily block it. She whirled around and almost nailed a swipe to the arm, but Lucie just barely stepped aside in time. Suddenly, the Lupi Mari lurched to the side, and a wave of sea water splashed the two of them, causing Zinaida to stumble backwards. The water cleared Lucie's thoughts and she was able to see Zinaida's attack in slow motion, almost. She blocked it easily, and then swung towards Zinaida's arm. Still, Zinaida managed to dodge, but she smiled and disarmed Lucie the same way she disarmed Clara earlier.

"That was still a really good duel, you two," Clara mentioned. "Zinaida... I think you'll be better than me soon... Just a few things for you to correct. Lucie... you definitely did better in this fight than when you did against me."

"Thanks," Lucie said, feeling a surge of pride that she'd been able to stand against Zinaida, but feeling a bit surprised that she was able to think clearer after the water splashed her.

"I wish the water didn't splash me," Zinaida said. "I'll have to find something else to wear for the night."

"Same here," Lucie agreed, staring at her soaked dress.

Slowly, the rest of the week drudged on. The girls didn't have much to do, so they spent most of the time sword fighting. Lucie mentally kept a tally of how many times she won against Zinaida, and how many times she lost against Zinaida. Zinaida won about thirteen. Lucie won about nine.

A few days later, when they were approaching land, Lucie ran to the front and climbed up the masthead to get a better look. In the distance, she could see that little strip of land waiting for their approach.

"What are you doing up there?" Zinaida yelled to Lucie.

"I am getting a better look at our destination!" she yelled back. When Lucie climbed down, Zinaida said, "I think we should use our cloaks to hide our swords. Who knows what we'll run into on land, since we don't have adults with us." She held up Lucie's cloak. She already was wearing hers, and Lucie knew she had her sword hidden inside her cloak. "Ok," Lucie said, taking her dark green cloak and putting it on.

"How close is land?" Zinaida asked, staring towards where Lucie had been, minutes ago.

"It's still far away, but we will be there in a couple of hours," said Lucie. "Alright," Zinaida said. "I wonder what people will think when they see this ship come into port..." Lucie laughed and said, "I don't know. They might be surprised when they see only three girls manning the ship."


	5. Chapter 5

Lucie watched as the boat slowly glided into port. The waves moved in and out just as they did back home. Men on the other ships were loading or unloading. Some were preparing to sail out to sea. Further ahead, people could be seen walking about in the streets or talking to each other. Horses pulled carts up and down streets, and boys ran around on their own errands.

"It feels a lot like Clovelly, doesn't it?" Zinaida said. Lucie didn't answer but nodded as she watched Clara walked across the deck towards them. Quietly, the three of them stood there until the boat finally docked itself.

"Ready to go out?" Clara said finally breaking the silence.

"Yah, let's go." Lucie replied. Clara, Zinaida and Lucie climbed off the ship split off to their different assignments as soon as the ship docked. Clara's was to pay the fee for landing at this dock then watch the ship once she was done. Zinaida's job was to go find the trader and see if they could sell all the goods they didn't need, mainly the rum. Finally, Lucie's task was to find the warden at his jail to see if he would take the pirates.

After a bit of asking around, Lucie finally found her way to the front of the jail building. Taking a deep breath, she walked inside. To her right was a small waiting room just big enough for the normal crowd that would ever visit a prison. To her left was a barred door that lead to the prison cells. Lucie couldn't see anything through it because the hall was so dark, but Lucie knew that prisons weren't put in towns for the look of it. She approached the wooden desk in front of her, unsure of what to say to the man behind it. _This must be the warden,_ she thought.

"Hello, what's a girl doing in a place like this?" asked the man when he finally looked up from his newspaper.

"I have a crew of pirates and their captain in the brig of a ship. The captain of my ship wants to send them to the noose as soon as possible," Lucie replied.

"Where did he get all those pirates from?" he asked.

"That's not my story to tell," said Lucie. "All I need is for you to get rid of those pirates before the captain comes back. He really does not want those pirates there for much longer."

"All right, wait here." The warden disappeared behind the door to the prison cells and came back with a few men behind him. "Come with us," he said. The man led Lucie out to the prison carriages where horses were already tied up. Lucie was allowed to ride up front on one of the carriages so she could show them where the ship was. As soon as they reached the docks Lucie led the men to her ship and started to climb the ladder.

"So this is the ship they've been talking about," said the warden, "Everyone knew the first captain of this ship but both the captain and the crew seemed to just disappear. After that we heard it fell into the hands of pirates."

"Well the pirates are all in the brigs if you want them," Lucie said as she led them onto the boat and down to the prison of the ship. At the door Lucie pulled out her keys and unlocked it. Then she led the men into the room.

"The captain let you use his keys," one of the soldiers asked.

"Yep," Lucie said, "He trusts me more than most of his men. Plus, he is busy at this moment so I doubt he would be on the ship at this moment."

The warden looked at Lucie and said, "I thought you were kidding. I have never seen any ship come to port with this many pirates."

"Don't ask me how he did it," said Lucie. She walked up and unlocked the gate and the men came forward and quickly started to put each pirate in shackles. Slowly each pirate emptied out of the cell until only the captain was left.

"You better be careful, girl." he said leaning against the bars of the cell, "Once Blackbeard finds out he's gonna try and stop you and he won't rest until he is sure you're dead." Lucie watched as the captain was taken out of his cell an led up the stairs leaving his words hanging in the air.

"He's probably trying to frighten us. I think it best we don't worry too much about his warning," Zinaida said as she and Clara appeared from their hiding place behind the door.

"How long have you been back there?" Lucie said as she shut the door to the cell of the brig.

"We got bored and decided to follow you down." Zinaida replied, "None of the men noticed us come in."

"My guess would be this ship could have been part of Blackbeard's fleet," Lucie said.

"What will we do if he comes after us?" Clara asked sounding worried.

"Well we need a bigger crew," Lucie answered. "We should gather up a crew of girls like us."

"What do you mean?" Zinaida asked.

"I mean girls who don't want to live in men's shadows anymore," Lucie answered, "Girls who want to stand out and be themselves."

"Well it seems we are going to be docked here for a while, so why don't we wander around and look for anyone in our free time?" Zinaida replied.

"That's what I was thinking." Lucie smiled. "Anyways, did you find the trader, Zinaida?"

"Yes, but he can't come until tomorrow, so we have a bit of time," she said. "Let's take a walk through town and see what we can see."

"Alright," Lucie said and the three of them walked out upstairs and off the.

Lucie sat up on her cot. She had been trying to sleep for over an hour, but she finally gave up. Standing up ,she slipped on her cloak and sword then snuck her way down the hall. Something about the ship felt restless at night, as if there were other people silently walking down the hall along with her. Of course this was only a feeling that Lucie had, there was no physical evidence, no sound, nothing. So, she didn't say anything of it.

She sighed, The girls didn't find anyone at the last port and this one probably wouldn't be any different. Someday, though, they will find someone to join them. For now, they just have to keep on sailing till they find more of a crew. Then they would hope that if Blackbeard strikes, they would be prepared.

The night air was cold but it didn't bother Lucie. Quietly, she crossed the deck over to where she could walk down onto the dock. She gazed up at the ship with its new sails. The shining silver flag, designed by Zinaida, had a midnight black wolf on it howling up to the ghostly white moon. She turned and quietly made her way through the streets. Lucie welcomed the silence of the city. She didn't mind the noisy streets during the day, but at night it was nice to just walk through the quiet streets. Most of all, she loved to tiptoe through the shadows.

As Lucie was walking past an alley, a scream shattered the silence of the night. Slowly, Lucie made her way through the streets until she found herself in an alley behind the baker's shop. The smell of bread brought back memories of her hometown, but she didn't stop to remember anything more. At the end was what Lucie recognized as a pirate. His sword was poised over a girl as she cowered in the corner of the alley.

As Lucie crept closer, she realized that she was too late. The body of a man, probably the girl's escort, lay at the pirate's feet.

"Hey!" Lucie yelled hoping she sounded braver than she felt. "Leave that girl alone!" The pirate jumped. Apparently he didn't notice Lucie's approach.

"How is a girl like you goin' to stop me?" he said as soon as he realized it was only a girl.

"How do you think?" Lucie said, drawing her sword.

"Where would a girl learn how to fight with a sword?" the pirate turned away from his prey and faced Lucie.

"I won't say." She smiled and took a step forward.

"I doubt a girl will ever be able to beat me or any other lad!" he said. Lucie laughed inside at his arrogance, but she was still nervous and scared. Without any more hesitation, Lucie charged the pirate with her sword, but he blocked it easily with his. Both Lucie and the pirate stepped back. Then, the pirate tried to attack Lucie. She dodged the sword easily and aimed for his legs. The pirate jumped but he was too slow. Lucie's sword hit one of his legs and he fell flat on his face. Lucie pressed her sword against his neck.

"Didn't put up much of a fight," Lucie said, "I thought this would be harder."

"I don't particularly like to fight girls," said the pirate. Lucie stepped back to let the pirate up. No sooner had he stood up then Lucie found herself the one sitting on the ground. Her sword fell out of her hand and skittered out of reach. "I definitely would never kill one unless completely necessary."

"Then why were you about to kill the girl," Lucie said.

"My orders were to kill her and now she's gone because you had to barge in," the man walked out of the alley leaving Lucie alone in the dark. She walked over to the body she spotted over by where the girl use to be sitting. He was dead laying in a pool of blood that spilled from a wound in his chest. By his clothing she could tell this guy came from a rich family. _What would he be doing in a dark alley at this time of night? No time to find out. _Lucie thought glancing up at the moon.

"I should go," she whispered to herself, then turned and walked away. No point in being seen near a dead body. But still, something was troubling her. The pirates voice sounded familiar. How could that be possible? Lucie didn't know anyone outside their small town. Any who lived in that town was burnt to ashes. "So who could it be?" she whispered in frustration to the night air.

* * *

Hope you liked the chapter. Please reveiw:)


	6. Chapter 6

"You're back sooner than I expected," Lucie said as Zinaida walked towards her along the dock with their supplies for the trip out.

"No one was in the store," Zinada replied. "The store manager was glad to have something to do. He is even coming down later to see if there is anything he would like out of that hold!"

"That's strange," Clara replied. "The store is almost always busy, no matter what town you are in."

"Well apparently someone was found dead in an alley today," Zinaida said as she handed her bags to Clara to put away. "Everyone assumes it's a pirate who killed him so no one wants to be outside for long."

"And you think differently?" Lucie asked saying nothing about the previous night.

"No, it could have been anyone." Zinaida said, "I think people jumped to that conclusion too quickly."

"Did they find out who he was?" Lucie asked wondering, if Zinaida or Clara had heard her sneak off the ship yesterday.

"Apparently he was a the tutor for the daughter of some rich people in town, and they think it was a pirate too." Zinaida said laughing

"Do the parents have a good reason to blame pirates?" Lucie asked.

Zinaida shrugged. "Nope, no one saw anyone else on the streets so no one knows."Lucie had to try not to smile. So no one saw her last night.

"I wouldn't say that no one knows," said an unfamiliar voice, "but no one has asked the person who knows." Lucie turned around to find three girls walking toward them on the dock. One of them, Lucie realized, was the girl from the night before."May we speak to the captain of this ship?" she asked.

"What business do you have with our captain?" Zinaida questioned while narrowing her eyes in suspicion of the newcomers.

"That is for you to find out when I meet him," said the girl Lucie had saved from the night before.

"Are you sure about this?" Lucie asked.

"We're positive."

"Come on board then," Lucie said and led them to her cabin.

Once inside, one of the girls asked, "Where's the captain?"

"I am the captain," Lucie answered, sitting down behind the desk.

"You're the captain?" she said, "I was expecting you to be a man."

"That is a typical assumption to make. After all, there usually isn't even a crew with women in it, much less a female captain," Lucie said. "My name is Lucie and this is Zinaida."

"Well, I'm Zorah. This my friend Martina," Zorah pointed to each of her companions. "And this is Elizabeth." The younger girl waved her hand shyly. "We want to join your crew and I'm curious how does a girl become captain of her own ship?"

"That's a story I would rather not tell," Lucie said. "Maybe another day, but I need to know yours before you join the crew."

"Well, we heard stories of your ship," Martina said. "All the adults try to keep them hushed up, but rumors leak out one way or another. When we heard the stories we wanted to join the crew. None of us ever cared for the families we stayed with so Zorah proposed that we ask to be able to sail as soon as you docked . Everyday we watched and waited for your ship at port and the day after it came we decided to come and ask."

"I have no problem with them joining us," Lucie said, "What do you think Zinaida?" "I would like them to be on our crew," Zinaida answered, "I'll ask Clara and see what she thinks." Zinaida walked out the door.

"What happens after Clara agrees?" Zorah asked.

"Well if Clara agrees then you're part of the crew." Lucie answered.

"Thats it?" Zorah asked.

"Yes, we don't need to know more than the fact that you are willing to join the crew." Lucie replied.

"Then what was the point of asking us why we want to join?" Martina said.

"We are just making sure your not our enemies." Lucie replied casually.

"You already have enemies?" Elizabeth screeched and Lucie was surprised that she spoke. The girl seemed only a little younger than Lucie, but she was so quiet till now.

"Not exactly, we stole this ship from Blackbeard," Clara said walking in with Zinaida behind her. "Therefore, we assume Blackbeard is our enemy."

"You stole it from Blackbeard," Martina said excitedly.

"Yah, but we are still not officially his enemy." Zinaida said. "In fact we don't even know if he is after us. Do you still wish to join?"

"I do," Martina said immediately. "I have been waiting for an adventure like this."

"I don't want to go back," Elizabeth whispered, "but I don't know how to fight."

"Don't worry about that," Clara said gently. "We can teach you."

"I will join if Zorah joins," Elizabeth said shrinking behind Zorah. Everyone looked at Zorah, "Well, if you teach us how to fight then... I guess," she said a little uncomfortably.

"You have until we leave port to decide," Lucie said standing up out of the chair. "Follow us and we will find you some better dresses and a sword to use for now," she waved for everyone to follow.

When everyone was outside the cabin, Zorah tapped on Lucie's shoulder. "There's something we need to talk to you about." Zorah said

Lucie nodded then yelled out to Zinaida to lead the other two girls down to the storage rooms. "Come in," she said as she walked back into the cabin.

"Last night in the alley, that was you who saved me, wasn't it?"

"Yes," Lucie answered. "I couldn't sleep, so I decided to take a walk and ran into you."

"Have you ever fought before?" Zorah asked.

"That was the first time," Lucie admitted.

"You seemed really confident," Zorah said. "I hope I will be as brave as you."

"Thanks..." Lucie realized she had never been praised like that before.

"Another thing, it's about the pirates." Zorah continued, "They're starting to take over the jails. Apparently, they're looking for someone and want to catch their attention."

"That's strange," Lucie replied. "For pirates, that is very strange."

"My father was one of the men who were hung by the pirates," Zorah said, "along with many others. After that, my mother wanted to marry me off so we could keep up the family name, but of course I didn't want to. The man she would have me marry was years older ,and I hate him."

"Oh, well that makes sense why you wanted to get away. What about Martina and Elizabeth?" Lucie asked, curious. "Elizabeth was one of the maids in my house." Zorah said, but Lucie could tell that the timid girl was more than just a maid to Zorah.

"She never would have stood a chance if I didn't protect her so I had to take her with. Martina's father was killed by the pirates and she ran and hid herself in my fathers manor. When went into to town she followed along careful not to be seen. In the town she stayed at a friends house of mine. Not long after we arrived in town my father died and you pretty much know the rest."

"Who was that with you in the alley?" Lucie asked.

"That was my brother," Zorah replied. "He didn't like me being married off to the man my mother chose so he helped me keep a lookout for the ship. When he told me that the ship was here I didn't believe him, so he took me to the docks to show me."

Lucie said, "I didn't realize pirates can be so smart to take over a jail without anyone noticing."

"Pirates will start to roam free if they are not stopped from this." Zorah said, "Someone needs to stop them."

"And you're suggesting we do it?" Lucie asked.

"Yes," Zorah said. "No one else will listen."

"I will speak with Zinaida and Clara later," Lucie replied standing up. "For now you should find yourself sword and a new dress. The dress you're wearing is not good for sword fighting."

"Are you sure she's telling the truth?" Clara asked when Lucie told them about Zorah's story later that night. The three girls were sitting around the kitchen table after cleaning up dinner.

"Why would a person lie about something like that?" Zinaida asked. "We all know that pirates don't do much more than pillage towns and cause destruction. This is… strange for them."

"True." Clara said.

"What do you think we should do?" Lucie asked.

"This could affect us too," Zinaida said. "When there are more pirates walking around just because men can't do their jobs right."

"That's true," Lucie answered. "I guess now we should at least check the jail to see if what Zorah says is true." "If they are pirates do you think we will kill them.? Clara asked quietly.

"Yeah," Lucie said. "I don't like the thought of killing, but if we have to, I will."

"Only two of us can go out this time," said Zinaida. "One of us should stay here."

"I want to get to know these girls better," Clara said. "I will stay."

"Right, we will do this tomorrow night," Lucie said, "For now let's get some rest."Clara and Zinaida left to their cots in the crew's quarters . Lucie walked down to her cabin and unstrapped the sword belt and laid her sword on the top shelf inside her armoire. She lay down in her cot still feeling as if invisible footsteps were walking up and down that hallway. In seconds, Lucie fell into dreamless slumber.

* * *

Finally remembered to put this online. Between homework and everything else its been hard.

Hope you enjoyed the it!


	7. Chapter 7

Lucie and Zinaida left for the jail a little after dawn. Silently, they walked through the streets until they reached the door of the jail. Lucie tugged on her hood to make sure it covered her head all the way.

"The place is dark," Lucie said. "Do you think they will be in there?"

"I doubt the pirates have anywhere else to go," Zinaida said.

"True," Lucie answered.

Quietly, Zinaida opened the door. No sound was to be heard inside except for the snores of sleeping men. Lucie tip toed up to the closest shape sleeping in one of the chairs. She could definitely smell the alcohol coming off of him.

"This one's a pirate," Lucie whispered once she saw his messy hair, "And he is definately drunk."

Zinaida walked over to the man sitting at the desk she nodded to say he was a pirate too. Lucie walked over to Zinaida to take a look.

"It's the old captain of the Lupi Mari," Zinaida whispered.

"That means," Lucie said, "that they escaped the jail we took them to." Lucie looked around to see three more sleepy shapes on other chairs in the room. "Could these pirates have been part of the crew?" Lucie asked.

Zinaida shrugged, then walked over to one of the pirates in the chairs. Lucie followed to see what she was going to do. Zinaida took out her sword and raised the tip to point towards the center of his chest. Without second thoughts, she pushed the sword through the pirate's flesh, into to his heart.

The pirate woke with a gasp, but he didn't live long. The other pirates in the room started to wake up from hearing their companion and the two girls shrank back into the shadows in the corner.

"What happened?" the former captain of the Lupi Mari asked.

"I think we have some intruders," answered one of the pirates answered, "Seems they have killed one of our men."

"Search the whole jail," the captain said. "I want everyone to search this whole place for him. No one will rest till he is found!"

The men left the room, each taking a different direction through the halls of the building. Shouts could be heard as others were being woken up for the search. Lucie waited; she was sure all the other pirates were gone when she revealed herself from the shadows.

"Funny," Lucie commented. "Even after I stole your ship you still assumed only a man could have came in and killed him."

The captain whipped his head around to look at Lucie, "Did you do it?!"

"No, I did it," Zinaida said stepping out of the shadows alongside Lucie.

"Who are you?" the captain asked.

"You don't remember," Lucie asked pulling her hood back, "We are the ones who stole your ship."

"And I suppose you're going to take this jail away from me too," the captain said.

"Not just that," Zinaida answered. "We are planning on killing you."

"You didn't kill me before," the captain said pulling out his sword. "Why now?"

"Because we decided that if you want something done right then you have to do it yourself," Lucie said then ran up to the pirate with her sword out and aimed for his head.

The captain blocked and tried to get in a hit of his own. Lucie easily blocked it. They both continued to fight exchanging strikes though neither one drew blood. This would have gone in for a while longer but when the pirates started coming down one of the halls the captain's focus was off. At that moment, Lucie jumped in and stabbed his stomach.

A group of about six or seven pirates burst into the room to see what all the noise was about. When they saw Lucie standing over their dying captain it didn't take long for one of them to attack. Immediately, Zinaida jumped out from the front desk where she had hidden herself earlier. She slit the mans neck and he fell to the ground dead.

"Now," Lucie said. "Who else wants to fight us?"

"You're the one who took our ship," one of the pirates said as if he just realized that.

"Anything else you have to say?" Lucie said then swung her sword at him and would have taken his head if he had not dogged her blow. Unfortunately for him, he ran into Zinaida's sword where she had made quick work of him. The other pirates looked uncertainly at the two girls before they, too, attacked. Lucie was not so sure about fighting all these pirates at once. She tried to block and dodge each blow but while trying to dog a sword aiming for her head she missed the the one aimed for her feet and fell to the floor. Immediately one of the pirates pressed his sword up against her neck.

"This is what we do to those who dare steal our ships," he said. Lucie closed her eyes as he swung his sword back. She waited for death but the sword never came back. Slowly she opened her eyes. Clara had blocked his sword with her own.

"Since when did you get here?" Lucie asked

"Zorah heard where you went she got worried," Clara replied, "I told her you were fine but she didn't listen so we all ended up coming here."

"Good thing you did," Lucie said as she stood up shakily, "Now let's fight."  
With Zorah, Elizabeth, Martina and Clara there the numbers were more even but three of the girls were still pretty inexperienced. Lucie was unsure if they were able to leave the fight alive. As she continued to dodge and duck then fight she could feel the sting of the numerous cuts on her body. From the glances she could get between blows she could tell that the other girls were getting pretty beat up too. Finally, Lucie found herself kneeling on the floor from exhaustion. The sword came down upon her again and she felt too tired to be able protect herself. Then the sword stopped short and the pirates eyes widened in disbelief as he fell to the floor revealing Zinaida standing behind him.

"I thought pirates were better than that," Zinaida said, "but he left his back wide open." Lucie smiled, maybe now they could get somewhere.

"Come on," she told Zinaida, "It's about time we finished this fight." Her friend nodded and with new found energy both girls managed to fight the pirates once more. After that the fight ended quickly as the girls seemed to overpower the men. When the last pirate finally fell to the floor the girls just stood there breathing heavily.

"Let's leave before more come," Zinaida said breathless from the difficult fight. The other girls just nodded and together they snuck out of the jail and disappeared into the night.

While making their way back to the ship, a group of pirates ran by and Lucie led her crew into the alley to hide. The girls could not recognize any of the pirates so Lucie wondered where they came from. She tried to quiet her breathing in fear the pirates would hear her, but of course they were making enough noise themselves to cover Lucie's breathing. As soon as they were out of hearing range, Lucie let out a sigh of relief and led the way out of the shadows and back towards the docks.

"So they were right," Clara asked as soon all the girls entered the kitchen.

"Yep," Zinaida answered, "and you'll never guess who the pirates were.""I reconized a few of them," Clara replied.

"The old crew of the Lupi Mari," Lucie answered cleaning the blood off her sword.

"Really?" Clara sat up, surprised. "So they somehow escaped from the prison we put them in."

"Yeah," Lucie conceded.

"Wow," Clara said. "I'm surprised we came back in one piece."

"Pirates have just climbed onto the deck," the Lupi Mari told Lucie.  
Lucie sighed. "And it seems like we won't have a break from them just yet. Come on," Lucie said, standing up from her chair. For a second, all the girls looked at Lucie confused but then then followed Lucie out.

"What's wrong?" Zinaida asked but Lucie didn't answer as she ran up the stairs. Once outside, Lucie saw a small group of pirates heading toward them.

"Will you please tell me why we need to be out here right now?!" Zinaida complained as she walked up the stairs to stand beside Lucie, but soon as she saw the pirates she stood still and quiet.

"So, yer the one who stole this ship from my fleet," the pirate said once he finally stood in front of small crew of girls.

Lucie guessed that this man was Blackbeard. His clothes were dirty and smelled strongly of body odor and rum, but she just ignored the bad smell. His eyes were dark brown and unfriendly and his dark beard grew thick from his chin.

"So you're Blackbeard." Lucie said keeping her voice steady despite the fear she felt inside.

"Aye, and what's yer name?" Blackbeard replied leaning in towards Lucie. "I have only heard stories about you and not a single one mentioned yer name."

"I am Lucie Clark," she replied ,stepping back away from the pirate. "And this is the what I have of my crew so far."

"I will ask this of you nicely first," Blackbeard said unimpressed by what he saw,

"Seeing your all are only a group of girls."

"We are just as strong as you men," Zinaida spat with acid in her tone. "If you want your ship back, cut out the facade of acting gentlemanly and fight for it." With a murderous glare, she took a step towards him.

"Alright, I guess we'll do it the hard way," Blackbeard said. He and his crew unsheathed their swords and backed up to lead the girls away from the doorway.  
Lucie walked forward only after locking the door that went below deck. As soon as she unsheathed her own sword, the other girls followed and they each chose an opponent.  
As soon as Lucie's sword hit Blackbeard's all the other girls threw themselves into their own duels. Lucie watched for Blackbeard's sword, keeping it in view and blocking any of his attacks. After their fight from earlier she knew that none of the girls would last more than a few minutes. Finally, Lucie reached inside his guard and cut him on the shoulder. In result, it only angered him.

"I have to admit," Blackbeard said making another swipe with his sword that Lucie ducked. "You're pretty good at fighting for a girl."

"Well I guess if I keep practicing, I'll be as good as a man." Lucie replied dryly as the pirates last attack barely missed her.

"No girl can ever fight as well as a man," Blackbeard boasted. "Look, your other girls are already becoming tired." Lucie didn't look, but she could see some of them out of the corner of her eye.

"Let's think of this as my second warning," Lucie said, "since the last captain of this ship failed to receive the first one."

"The first warning?" Blackbeard asked, confused.

"Yeah, didn't he tell you?" Lucie asked.

"Tell me what?" he asked.

"This," Lucie pointed to one of the ropes that had untied itself and was reaching towards Blackbeard, "is why you should not attack me on my own ship." More ropes untangled themselves and all six pirates were picked up off their feet and thrown into the water.

None of the girls' wounds were serious so Lucie figured the pirates didn't fight as hard just because they were girls. Next time, they will know better.

"All right, let's go back to our bunks and tomorrow morning we will be out at sea," Lucie said. Then she told the Lupi Mari to set sail. None of the girls wanted to stay here any longer.

* * *

It took a little longer than I wanted it to get this chapter out but I'm finally done so I hope you enjoy. Please review :)


	8. Chapter 8

Lucie waited silently on the roof of the jail. Listening for the three girls she just sent in to return from their mission. It had already been two months since Lucie first saw Blackbeard and none of the girls have seen him since. In the meantime, they travelled from port to port invading the jails run over by pirates, and freeing them from the hold of those murderers.

She heard a door close below her and quickly turned to see three hooded figures walking out onto the roadway. As soon as she saw them turn into an alley, Lucie scrambled down and ran to meet them.

"How did it go?" Lucie asked once they were close enough to seed each other's faces.

"Everything went as planned." Elizabeth answered, "We left just after everyone started seriously fighting."

"As soon as one of the pirates went down, all the others started blaming each other," Ember said excitedly. She and Cecile were still new on the ship and still didn't completely understand the danger of the new life they led. When both girls were blamed for piracy, they were quick to join the crew when Lucie offered. "None of them realized we were hiding right there in the room."

"Good job," Lucie said. "Let's go back to the ship." She turned to lead the three girls out of the alley and back to the docks.

Elizabeth matched her pace with Lucie's. Ember and Cecile walked behind them whispering to each other.

"There's something I want to tell you about," Elizabeth said quietly.

"What is it?" Lucie asked.

"I heard people talking today." Elizabeth looked at Lucie shyly. "They were talking about a rumor. . ."

"What kind of rumor?" Lucie knew Elizabeth would not be telling her this if it was not important.

"That we were pirates." Elizabeth looked down at the road. "Most believe it, though some people were unsure."

Lucie thought for a second before saying, "Well, I guess we should just be prepared for any trouble that might come from this. There's nothing we can do right now." Elizabeth nodded and they continued walking in silence.

As soon as she entered the cabin, Lucie collapsed in her cot. She was always tired when she came back from her late night wanderings, yet she still loved to sneak around freely in the dark.

Before Lucie could fall asleep, there was a knock on the door, and she walked over to open it. Elizabeth stood in the hall her arm raised to knock again.

"What is it?" Lucie asked.

"Zinaida, Martina, Clara and Zorah are not anywhere to be seen on the ship," Elizabeth said, clearly worried.

"Are you sure? Did you check everywhere?" Lucie asked.

"We searched the whole ship, they are not here," Elizabeth answered.

"They may have just gone out for a walk," Lucie yawned. "If they are not back by morning, then we will search for them. For now, you and the rest of the girls should get some sleep."

"All right," Elizabeth said, though she still seemed uneasy, and walked down the hall to the crew's cabin. Lucie walked back to her cot and snuggled back under the covers. She fell asleep immediately.

Zinaida and the other girls were not there that morning. The four girls split up, each taking a different path to search for their missing friends. Lucie ran around asking questions and looking through stores, searching everywhere she could, but no one seemed to know anything about the four girls.

When she finally climbed back on the ship that evening, no one else was on board. The whole ship was quiet and seemed much bigger without any of the other girls there. Lucie climbed up on top of the masthead to wait for anyone to come back.

Eventually the sun's last ray disappeared in the horizon to be replaced by the soft light of the moon. Lucie had fallen asleep on the wolf's head to be awakened by the loud stomping of feet on the deck below. Quickly, she flipped herself around so she could see the deck better without anyone spotting her.

Down below, some men were walking across the deck and others were climbing up the rope ladder, trying to be quiet in doing so. Lucie watched as one of the men walked over and knocked on the door that led to the decks below. Quietly, she slid down from the wolf's head and hid herself in its shadow. All the other men had gathered behind the first one who was knocking harder on the door. Finally, he grew impatient and was about to try to force it open when Lucie stepped out of the shadows.

"I'm right here," she said, "there is no reason to break down my door." The men all whipped their heads around to stare at the girl who seemed to appear out of nowhere.

"We are looking for the rest of the people who live on this ship," the leader walked forward and stood in front of Lucie. "Do you know them?"

"Of course." Lucie said calmly, "This is my ship. I am the captain."

"Your ship?" the leader's jaw dropped in surprise. Sometimes, she loved the stupidity of men.

"Yep." Lucie said placing one hand on the hilt of her sword, just in case it was needed.

"Do you happen to know where the others are?"

"You may only be a girl but we won't tell you anything." The man sneered, "I don't think you can even find them."

"Then you don't know me," Lucie said. "I will find them if it takes all night."

"Right," one of the men snorted, "you won't find them before tomorrow evening."  
Lucie already knew what was going on tomorrow evening because she heard plenty people talking excitedly about the pirates to be hung. Of course she assumed the pirates in this situation were actual pirates.

"A hanging, right?" Lucie asked. "There is a hanging going on tomorrow evening."

"How did you know?" the leader said.

"Come on," Lucie said as she rolled her eyes. "Everyone's talking about it and you just told me who the pirates are." None of the men said anything so Lucie continued. "Don't underestimate girls. We are not as stupid as you make us out to be." With that, Lucie climbed off the ship and disappeared into the night.

As soon as she reached the end of town, Lucie stopped to think. None of the girls could be in the prison they invaded the night before. There had to be another prison in this city.

Lucie looked up the roads trying to figure out which way it would be. She remembered Zinaida saying something earlier about checking the other jail... if only Lucie had paid more attention to their conversation. That had always been something that annoyed Zinaida. Whenever Lucie got bored of a conversation she tended to zone out and give small replies to her friend.

On her way back to the ship, Lucie spotted the men that had tried to arrest her a earlier. Quickly, she followed them down the street staying far enough behind so that they wouldn't see her, yet still close enough to see them.

Before long, they entered the building in which she guessed was the other jail. As she approached the door, Lucie could hear muffled shouts of the people inside. Then the front door swung open, and she jumped into the shadows as men ran out, though not the same ones as before. As soon as they were gone, Lucie walked over to the front door, hoping to peek in and see what was happening. Right as she was about to open the door, it swung open making her jump back again.

"How did you get here?" It was the leader the same group of men she followed here.

"I told you, you shouldn't underestimate us girls," Lucie said. "We have our ways of figuring out where we want to go."

"Well now that you're here, I guess I need to take you to the warden," the leader of the group said, walking forward.

"You will not take me in there," Lucie said calmly. "I will take myself in."  
That stopped the men in their tracks. Lucie walked in, ignoring the stupid looks that the group gave her. Before she could change her mind, she ran in and thought of the first excuse the came to her head.

"Help me!" Lucie said running up to the surprised warden at his desk, who had apparently not seen the exchange outside. "There are pirates out there chasing me down."

"Where are they?" the warden said, standing up from his desk, ready to fight.

"In the street." Lucie tried to sound breathless. "The last I saw they were walking this way."

"Wait here," the warden ran out the door, leaving Lucie smiling in front of his desk. Oh how she loved men's stupidity. She looked down and realized that the warden forgot his keys. Happily, she took them and walked towards the door that led to all the prison cells. She quickly found the key that unlocked the door and walked into a long hallway.  
Lucie looked down the hall to find more cells than she expected. At the end of the hall it turned the corner to even more cells. Though, to Lucie's left, there was a door labeled "weapons".

Before she did much more she turned around and locked the door behind her, so the warden could not enter. Then she walked inside the weapon room, and looked through all the swords until she found the ones she needed.

Being she had plenty of time now, Lucie walked from cell to cell looking through the bars for any of her crew. Most the cells were empty, but a few had a man or two in it. Most of the men looked at her curiously, but she would ignore them and move on to the next cell.

Lucie turned the corner at the end of the hallway, and found only one large cell there. It was dark in the back, so at first, she could not tell who was in there, but as her eyes adjusted she could make out six shapes sitting idly on the floor. She set set down the swords and started to try each key till she found one that fit.

"Lucie!" Clara's voice called out from the dark and the girls in the cell started to move as they slowly recognized their captain. "I didn't think you would come!"

"Of course I came!" Lucie opened the door. "What do you think I have been doing all day? Now come on, we need to go." She watched as each girl picked up her sword and counted to make sure they were all there.

"Where's Zinaida?" Lucie asked.

"We don't know..." Clara said. "We thought she was the only one who didn't get captured."

"We will have to look for her tomorrow," Lucie said. "For now, we must hurry back to the ship."

She led the girls down the hall, and drawing her sword, she quickly unlocked the door. Lucie looked back to see all the other girls had drawn their swords. She opened the door to let her crew run out ahead of her. The once quiet lobby immediately exploded into noise, and Lucie ran in to join her crew in the battle.

"There were no pirates chasing you," the warden said as soon as Lucie stepped out from behind the door. "You lied."

"Of course," Lucie said. "When I see a pirate the last thing I would do is run to men for protection."

"Why would that be?" he asked.

Lucie rolled her eyes. "Because you are so terrible at protecting people."

Without another word, the warden charged toward Lucie, and she ran forward to meet him. The moment their swords clashed, she realized that, like everyone else, the warden had underestimated her. She easily reached inside his guard and cut his arm. After that, he was much more careful and fought with more force.

Fighting a pirate was much more different than fighting the warden. Their attacks were different. The warden's was more aimed at the target, but a pirate's was more or less aimed. The technique seemed to be slightly different, too, but since Lucie was still learning, she was able to adjust better to each one.

As Lucie fought, she realized that the warden and his men were just trying to push them back towards the hallway. Lucie had no intention of going back in, but if she timed it right she may be able to just disappear out the front door. She ducked as a sword almost cut her head off. Then she poked her sword in to try and catch the warden off guard. As soon as she had managed to off balance him, Lucie ran away from the warden and towards the front door. All the other girls received her cue and each managed to run away from their opponent and out the door.

"Looks like we were underestimated again," Lucie whispered to herself.

Outside, each girl split up and took their own path to the ship, hoping to lose the warden and his men. As soon as Lucie found herself back at port, she ran over to the Lupi Mari to climb aboard the ship. Clara, Zorah and Ember were already on deck talking among each other.

"Do you know where Martina, Cecile and Elizabeth are?" Lucie asked.

"Ember thinks she saw them head towards the other prison," Clara said. "Maybe they were looking to see if Zinaida was there."

"Maybe," Lucie said. "If they're not back in an hour, we will go at looking for them."  
From where the girls were standing, they could hear footsteps approaching their ship from below. The three girls looked over, hoping one of their own had come back. Instead, an actual pirate could just be seen in the light of the moon. Lucie climbed off the boat to meet him with Zorah, Clara and Ember right behind her.

"Blackbeard has sent me to give you a message," the man said. Lucie didn't answer so he continued on, "He says that if you want your friend back you will meet him your hometown that burnt down."

"How would I know if he actually has my friend?" Lucie asked.

"Blackbeard told me to give you this." The man handed her a sword in its sheath.  
As Lucie held it, she looked it over before she caught her breath. "Zinaida's sword," she whispered. Then, she spoke aloud, "Tell Blackbeard I will be there."

The man said nothing, but walked down the dock and out of sight.

"How do you know he is telling the truth?" Clara asked when he was no longer in sight.

"Because if Martina and the other girls do not find Zinaida at the other jail, then most likely, she will be with Blackbeard. We will just have to wait and be patient," Lucie said nervously.

* * *

That took a little longer than I thought but I can finally update this chapter!

Hope you enjoy!


	9. Chapter 9

Zinaida leaned back against the wall looking at the guard from the corner of her eye. She was thinking of how to get out of the cell. Maybe she could steal his keys and then somehow find her way up to the top deck. At least then she could get out of here, if only for a few minutes.

"May I have some water?" Zinaida asked.

The guard took something from his belt and walked over to hand it to her. "How about some rum?"

Zinaida grimaced as she tried to picture herself drinking the repulsive alcoholic drink. "Not a chance," she spat. "I want water, not your filthy rum!"

The man sighed then walked out of the room. Later, he came down with a glass of water and handed it to Zinaida. She took a small sip. It didn't taste bad, thankfully. She drank more as she watched her guard. He leaned against the bars of her cell. Zinaida glanced at the key ring on his belt. She could easily pull that through the bars, but then she would still have the pirate to deal with. Zinaida toyed with a few ideas in her mind until she thought of one that would likely work the best.

Immediately putting her plan into action, she put her arm through the bars and managed to get it around his thick neck. Holding on tight, she realized just how much stronger she had gotten since she began her time on the Lupi Mari. The pirate struggled to get out of her grip and get some air, but Zinaida was stronger than he expected, and he was in no position to escape. The pirate tried to grab his sword, but missed and grabbed the keys. She tightened her grip until he became limp, then she released the man and let him fall to the floor. Zinaida quickly swiped the keys and fiddled with them till she found one that worked.

Loud voices came from the stairs and starting to run down the hallway. Quickly, She grabbed the sword from the pirate laying on the floor and dashed behind the door just in time for a group of pirates to come flying through. Before they noticed Zinaida behind the door she ran out locking it behind her.

"That teaches you to mess with me!" Zinaida yelled at the door as she placed the key ring carefully around the handle. Then ran to the stairs that led up to the next floor.

Up there she ran into another pirate walking down the hall. Before he had a chance to think Zinaida stabbed the sword she stole into his stomach, watching as another pirate fell to the floor. Then she made her way up to the deck. Zinaida had to wait a few seconds to get use to the sunlight but a few seconds was all it took…

"Well look who decided to join us," said Blackbeard as he walked over from the poop deck.

"I decided it was a little stuffy down there," Zinaida said, tightening her grip around the sword. She watched nervously as all the other pirates stopped what they were doing to watch.

"Back to work," Blackbeard said to his crew. "I 'ave this one. She's just a girl after all."

"I am not just a girl," Zinaida yelled, now incredibly annoyed at the pirate. She swung her sword at the infuriatingly sexist pirate captain. Blackbeard blocked and tried to a slash at her legs. Zinaida jumped back, and tried again but she felt clumsy without her own sword. When Blackbeard tried to swipe at Zinaida, she stepped away from the stairs to keep from falling down. Eventually Zinaida found herself moving towards the front of the ship, near the masthead.

"Come on, you will go back down there sooner or later," Blackbeard said. "We're on a ship, you know, there is no where else for you to run, unless you like swimmin' with the fish."

Zinaida said nothing but climbed up the steps, to the masthead. Blackbeard took his time in following after her. She looked around for something else to use and spotted the cannonballs. She rolled one of them over to the steps and pushed it down. Before Blackbeard noticed what was happening, the ball hit him in the leg and the pirate fell face- first on the stairs. Zinaida giggled at the sight and ran back over to the masthead, then watched as Blackbeard limped the rest of the way up the stairs.

"Your tiny group of girls will never win," Blackbeard said then he pointed out behind his ship. "You have more than just my ship to worry about."

Zinaida looked up to see at least seven more ships behind Blackbeard's. Each had its own captain with his own crew, but Zinaida knew Lucie wouldn't be fighting all those men. Just Blackbeard. All she needed to fight was Blackbeard.

"If you think that will beat us," Zinaida said, "then you don't know us at all."

"I have much more men than you do," Blackbeard said aiming another swing at Zinaida. "What makes you think you could win?"

Zinaida climbed up onto the railing and started trying to fight him from up there, "Because we will fight until we win, and we don't rely on anyone but ourselves!"

Blackbeard aimed for Zinaida's feet, once more. She jumped to a avoid it, but instead of landing back on the railing like she expected, she ended up free-falling into the sea.

* * *

Lucie stood on top of the masthead to get a better idea on what ships were at port. No pirate ships. She was a bit disappointed. She had hoped that maybe Blackbeard stopped on the way to Clovelly, too. Fire blazed before her eyes and she remembered the screams of all those who had died on that day. She was not anxious to see that place again.

"What are you doing up there?" Ember asked.

"Seeing what ships are in port," Lucie said, climbing down the wolf's head.

"Are there any pirate ships?" Ember looked up at Lucy, a little hopeful.

"Not that I have seen," Lucie answered. "I kinda wish there were, even though we have enough to deal with already. I just don't want to go home." She gazed back out at the ships sadly, remembering that last day in their town. Everything seemed normal on that day until the fire started.

"Do you think the people at this port would think we're pirates?" Ember asked feeling the need to change the subject.

"I don't know, but I guess we'll find out soon." Lucie turned to find Clara walking across the deck. "You ready to go out?"

"Yep," Clara replied.

"Alright, I'll collect the medicine while you and Ember buy the food we need." The three girls climbed off the ship and at the end of the dock went their separate ways.

Lucie walked cautiously through the streets, hoping no one had heard any rumors about the "pirate" girls. She didn't make it far throughout the city before a crash came from down one of the alleys. Originally, She would have just ignored it, but something about it made her curious.

She turned down the alley searching for what could have made such a loud noise. Lucie's footsteps echoed off the walls of the alley, which was now quiet except for shuffling that she could just barely hear down at the end. Where the sound came from, there was a boy about her age cleaning up a pile of crates that must have fallen over and spilled their contents.

"That's quite a mess," Lucie said, making the boy jump.

"Didn't expect anyone would actually come down this way," he looked up at Lucie.

"I wanted to see what made this loud noise." She bent down and started helping him clean.

"You're an odd girl," he murmured before he looked at Lucie funny. He continued to clean up the contents from the fallen crates. She just shrugged and continued to pick up the stuff off the ground and carefully place them back in the crate. "Especially because most don't carry around a sword." Lucie sat back on her heals not even trying to hide the fact that it was a sword.

"So, what are you going to do about it?" Surprisingly, her voice sounded calm despite the fact that her hands were shaking.

"I just think you look a little suspicious." He picked up the full crate and put it back on the pile of other crates in the alley. "You're not one of those pirate girls people are talking about, are you?"

"That depends on how you look at it," she replied quietly. "We stole our ship from pirates, and we have killed many pirates. We haven't gone around terrorizing innocent people. Does that really make us pirates?" The boy looked up at her and he seemed to think on it for a few seconds.

"I don't know, you certainly don't really look like a pirate," he paused. "Maybe they think you are just like the last female crew of that ship. I heard they killed a lot of people, pirate or not."

"We don't intend to become pirates," Lucie said a little indignantly.

"People can change you know."

They finished cleaning up the last crate and placed it on the pile.

"What happened to the girls?" Lucie asked.

"Eventually the British Navy caught up to them, but when they raided the ship, there was no one there. There was no sign of the girls who had been on it, so the British Navy took it and turned it into a trading ship. Eventually that ship was stolen by

Blackbeard and then I think you know where it went from there." Lucie nodded, wondering what had happened to the the female crew of the Lupi Mari.

"I should get going now," Lucie turned and started walking out of the alley.

"Be careful out there!" The boy yelled after her and she gave him a small nod in reply. She exited the alley and began walking the streets. Not much later, Clara came racing past her as if she was running from a pack of wolves.

"Whoa," said Lucie, grabbing her friend's hand as she ran by, forcing Ember, who was right on her tail, to come to a halt. "Where are you going so fast?"

Clara stood there trying to catch her breath. "I'm looking for you," she said. "The ship's surrounded by soldiers. They need our help."

Lucie grabbed Ember's hand, and the three of them ran towards the docks. Before they could go far, they spotted groups of soldiers searching the town for the girls of the Lupi Mari.

"Wouldn't they notice the girls on the ship?" Lucie asked Clara.

"Nope," she answered. "I believe they all hid below deck before any of the soldiers came, so the soldiers may be questioning if anyone is on board."

"How would they know to hide?" Lucie asked.

Clara shrugged. "When we arrived at port we noticed that the ladder had been taken up but I don't know anything else."

"Let's go down this alley," Lucie said. She grabbed Ember's hand and they ran down the alley. When they almost reached the end, the girls heard footsteps coming from around the corner.

Clara quickly ducked behind some crates, and Lucie pushed Ember in there before ducking behind herself. Lucie listened as the footsteps came closer with her heart beating loudly. She could tell it was a group of people, but not exactly how many were in the group. The footsteps stopped for a few seconds and people seemed to look around that part of the alley, but then continued on as though whoever it was didn't find what they were looking for.

Finally, the footsteps were gone altogether and Lucie led Clara and Ember out from behind the crates. They continued on down the alley, this time staying closer to the walls. Clara lead the way around the corner and the other two girls followed closely behind. But of course, as soon as they turned the corner, the girls ran into a group of soldiers walking down the alley.

"What are you girls doing here?" said one of the soldiers. "The alley is no place for girls like you."

Lucie smiled and walked up beside Clara. "Really, I didn't think it was that dangerous," she said in mock surprise.

"It's not that it's dangerous," replied the soldier, "but most of the girls who walk down this alley are headed towards the dock to see if they could find the ship that carries the crew of pirate girls."

"Is that so?" Lucie said. "We have no interest in joining that ship. Why would we want to become pirates?"

"Either way I must take you back," he said as he held out his hand towards Lucie. "Any girl found in this alley must be questioned."

"I'm afraid I can't allow that." Lucie drew her sword and just as luck would have it, six more soldiers came from around the corner behind them.

"You're coming with me either way," he said pointing his bayonet and the others did the same.

Lucie heard something whiz by her ear and looked back to find that three of the men had fallen over with arrows in their necks. Taking advantage of the confusion, Lucie swung her sword and stabbed one guy in the stomach. The men tried to rush in and disarm the girls but Ember, Clara and Lucie took them down with help from their archery friends. In a few minutes, all of the soldiers were on the ground either dead or dying.

"Just so you know I am captain of that ship who carries the so called 'pirate girls'," she whispered in his ear. "Be careful next time you try to arrest a girl."

Lucie stood up and looked at Clara and Ember. Both of their dresses were bloodstained, though it barely showed through the black cloth of Clara's dress. Blood spattered their hands and faces. Some blood dripped from their swords. More blood was on the ground in puddles around those who died. Picking their way through the dead soldiers was Martina and Cecile both holding bows in their hands and arrows slung across their backs.

"We started to get worried so we came looking," Martina explained.

"Don't worry, we're fine," Lucie replied, "but where did you find those bows?"

"From our sword sheaths," Cecile held her bow up to her sheath and the girls watched amazed as they saw it shrink back into a tiny silver charm.

"Wow," Ember breathed. "I never thought magic was actually real." Lucie nodded in agreement. She thought of the Lupi Mari and how the ship was mysteriously able to sail itself. Magic must have had a lot to do with that.

"Come on, we should head back to the ship now," Lucie said, taking a glance at the dead soldiers lying around them in the alley. "I sure don't want to be caught here if someone comes down the alley." She led the way as the other girls fell in step behind her.

When they finally reached the ship, the girls found a big group of soldiers waiting on the dock. Some were standing there talking among themselves while a few others paced the deck as if annoyed about having to wait. Lucie could tell they were becoming impatient.

"How are we going to board the ship now?" Ember asked, a bit of a whine creeping into her voice.

"There weren't as many earlier," Martina said. "It was easy to sneak through."

"Need a place to stay?" Lucie jumped when she heard that voice. She turned to see a boy that looked oddly familiar.

Martina pulled out her sword, "Who are you?" She demanded.

"Lucie knows me," the boy said calmly.

"Kirill?!" Lucie said as she suddenly. "He's one of Zinaida's brothers!"

Kirill smiled slightly. "Come on, I have a place where you can hide till nightfall. It'll also be a great place to catch up."


	10. Chapter 10

"So how did you escape the pirates and the fire?" Lucie asked after all the girls walked into Kirill's house.

"Well," he began, "Sergei and I were just taking a stroll through the forest. When we reached the far side of the the forest, the side closer to the sea, we noticed a ship at anchor near the shore. After a little bit of inspection, we realized it was a pirate ship and ran back to town as quickly as we could but it was already too late. By the time town was in sight, it was almost completely engulfed in flames. From our viewpoint, we couldn't see single living soul. Although, after standing there for a few minutes we could faintly see shapes of people running through.

"Sergei ran into the town to rescue any survivors, and I tried to follow, but fire block my path. As soon as I found another way in, most the fire had died down and the smoke was starting to clear up. All I could see we're dead bodies of the townspeople littered all over the ground. Most of them were burned, so you could hardly tell who they were.

"First I tried to find Sergei, but he was nowhere to be found. Fortunately, I ran into our mother in my search, and she told me Zinaida was down in the cellar. We searched for a while longer but couldn't find anyone else."

"Zinaida never mentioned anything of you," Lucie interrupted Kirill.

"She never really saw me," Kirill answered. "When I finally went down into the cellar, Zinaida was fast asleep, and I left that morning before she woke." He paused, and Lucie nodded for him to continue.

"There was no sign of Sergei anywhere. It felt as if he just disappeared, and when I walked down into the cellar that night neither Zinaida nor my mother was down there. The next day a ship anchored itself near our shore. I spoke to the captain and told him what happened and he agreed to sail me to the closest port. I never saw anything more of Sergei or any of the rest of the family."

"Do you think he died in the fire?" Ember asked.

Kirill just shrugged, "No way to know." he looked at Lucie. "Do you know what happened to our mother?" He asked her.

Lucie eyes glazed over as she recalled that last moment in the town, "She was killed on the beach... I saw it happen." she stared down at the floor as the scene replayed in her mind. Then she was no longer in the room as her mind replayed the events from before. Genevieve, Zinaida's mother, running down the beach, the blood that was spilled as the sword went through her and the satisfaction on the pirates face as the limp body fell to the ground.

"What's your story?" Kirill finally asked, breaking the silence.

All eyes turned to Lucie as she realized that none of the girls from the Lupi Mari had ever heard her story. So she started at the first pirate attack, her mother's death, then jumped to the day of the fire, describing how the orange flames ate up the town, and up to just before she met Kirill.

"So Zinaida left town with you," Kirill sounded relieved.

"Yep," Lucie said, "Now we're going to head out and find her. Of course... that's assuming Blackbeard didn't kill her."

"Do you need any supplies before you leave?" Kirill questioned. "I can buy you food... anything you need to find my sister."

"Thanks," Lucie said.

"Lucie, can I talk to you alone?" Kirill asked suddenly.

"Uh, sure," Lucie replied, following Kirill outside.

"Are you sure she's alive?" he asked somberly, his eyes a little sad.

"I'm sure she's alive. She's really strong. Probably stronger than you think," Lucie responded, putting all of her faith in Zinaida.

"I believe you, but I really want to see her. Can I join your crew until you find her? She's the only family I have left…" he trailed off sadly.

Lucie really wanted to help him. After all, she had grown up with him, so she did care for him a bit. But she knew that the other girls would feel uncomfortable. Plus, Lucie didn't want to see him hurt if they found out the worst…

"Kirill, I don't think I can do that. The crew is only girls… I have to think more about them. I can promise you that I'll tell Zinaida I ran into you when I find her. If she comes back to see you, that's her choice. You can give me a letter to give to her later."

Lucie could tell Kirill understood. He gave a nod to her before saying, "What do you need?"

She listed off all the things she and the crew would need before they could leave. When she finished listing, Kirill smiled a bit and nodded again.

"I'll give you the stuff and the letter when I get back. Thanks again, Lucie. Zinaida means a lot to me."

"You're welcome," she replied. She watched him walk away before she turned on her heels to go back inside.

When she entered the snug house again, Lucie felt someone touch her shoulder. "How do you know we can trust him?" Martina whispered.

"Kirill is Zinaida's brother," Lucie told her. "I know him well, he won't hurt us."

"Are you sure we can trust him?" Clara asked, obviously a bit nervous.

"Yes," Lucie sighed, "As far as I'm concerned, Kirill is one of Zinaida's more trustworthy brothers. And besides, he's always cared for his sister. If he does anything, it'll be to help her."

"If you say so," Clara said, but she didn't sound satisfied with Lucie's reply. Lucie realized it was becoming harder for the crew to trust people, herself included. Soon they may not be able to trust old friends or family.

That night, the girls snuck back on deck. The big group in front of the ship had shrunk to only a few people and half of them had fallen asleep. The rest seemed to be falling asleep where they were standing. No one noticed that the girls had even climbed on board until the ship already out of port. By then it was already too late to try pursue them but the men were trying anyways. They loaded onto a ship of their own but the Lupi Mari was already almost out of sight. Lucie watched at the railing laughing at the hopeless attempt to capture the girls.

"Didn't know you went through so much before you got this ship," Zorah said leaning against the railing beside Lucie. "Martina told us your story."

"Yeah," Lucie replied, sadly remembering the fire that destroyed her town, "amazing what can happen in one night. Your whole life could change the the blink of an eye."

"You got that right," Zorah smiled, "We'll get Zinaida back, no matter what it takes."

"Of course we will," Lucie replied, "there is no way we are going to let Blackbeard win."

"That's what we wanna hear from our captain," Zorah said. "Come on it's about time we go to sleep."

One of Lucie's favorite spots on the ship was on top of the masthead. It was not as high as from the lookout perch on the main mast but it was more comfortable. She could see pretty far out on the ocean. Then looking behind her Lucie had a nice view of the forecastle, main deck and poop deck.

On the main deck Clara was watching the girls as they swung at each other with swords. Martina against Zorah, Elizabeth against Cecile, and Ember watched leaning against the side of the ship. Salty sea air could be tasted on their tongues and clouds drifted lazily above. Everything was peaceful except for one fact no one could ignore; Zinaida wasn't there.

Luce couldn't help but feel sad at the thought. Zinaida will be back with them soon. She had to concentrate on that. Lucie climbed off the masthead and walked over to where Clara was watching the other girls fight.

"Done being the lookout," Clara said.

"All I've seen all day is the sea," Lucie said, "no sign of land but Lupi said that we should be there soon we might even get there late tonight."

"So by tomorrow we will have Zinaida back," Clara said looking hopeful, "at least that is if she is still alive."

"She has to been alive. There would be no point in telling us they only captured her when they've actually killed her." Lucie said but she felt more like she was trying to convince herself. She sighed, this conversation is going nowhere. "Wanna duel?"

Clara smiled, "Think you can beat me?"

"I don't know but fighting all these pirates have made me stronger," Lucie unsheathed her sword, "Maybe I will beat you."

"Fine, let's duel," Clara drew her sword and they both took a stance. Lucie attacked first swinging her sword at Clara but she blocked. "Better aim." Clara nodded approval. "So you have improved more than I thought."

"Its all the pirates I have been fighting." Lucie replied, dodging Clara's sword. Lucie aimed for Clara's legs trying to knock her over. Clara jumped back and swung her sword down to hit Lucie on the head. She dogged and tried another swing at Clara. Both swords met in the middle with a loud clang. Now, instead of the bored look on her face, Lucie saw fierce determination in her eyes. Lucie smiled, it's more fun when you're fighting someone with the same skill level.

By this time the other girls had stopped their duels to watch. Neither Lucie nor Clara paid attention both determined to win. The swords clashed against each other time and time again. Both girls dodged and leaped to avoid each others attacks yet trying their hardest to beat each other.

Finally Clara's sword fell to the ground. Lucie stood over her unsure how it happened. They were both breathing hard.

"I beat you," Lucie said laughing.

"Come on," Clara said, "It's time to make dinner. Tonight you can help me cook." Lucie sheathed her sword and followed Clara down to the kitchen.

She sighed despite, the duel between her and Clara, she was still too anxious to fall asleep. Quietly Lucie slid off her cot and walked outside to where the wolf masthead kept watch over the sea. With practiced ease she climbed up to her perch on top of Lupi's head and leaned against one of the ears. There the wide night sky spread out before her and the sea seemed endless below.

"Do you think Zinaida will be with Blackbeard tomorrow?" Lucie asked the Lupi Mari.

"There would be no way of knowing for sure," Lupi replied, "althoughit would be a pretty stupid move to just kill her. It's safe to assume that she is still alive"

"I hope you're right," Lucie said sadly, "I don't know what I would do without her."

"Well, if she is dead then you have the right to kill blackbeard." Lupi said.

"I would like that," Lucie sighed as she relaxed against Lupi's ear allowing the rocking of the ship to lul her to sleep.

She woke with the sunrise the next morning to find that the ship was already docked at a beach. The dock that use to be part of her town didn't look to be much more than charcoal and the city was hardly there anymore.

"Wow," Lucie gasped, "I didn't realize how much this place had burned down." The last time she was here she had not spent much time looking at the damage and now that she was seeing Clovelly again...

"Lucie! What are you doing up there so early in the morning?!" Clara yelled up at her.

"Ummmm... I kinda fell asleep up here." Lucie replied then climbed down to meet Clara on deck.

"Wow, your town really did burn." Clara said in awe, "Its really is amazing that there really were any survivors."

"Yeah, well we had to leave a lot behind," Lucie remembered all those who had died that day, "especially Zinaida. She actually had a family to lose and i just had a bunch of idiots who cared less about what happened to me."

"It's the same with me... almost," Clara looked out at the sea, "It was my father who betrayed our town. He led the pirates to attack but in the end they killed him when he tried to protect me. After that I was taken as a "maid" on the pirate ship. When you defeated all the pirates like that you gave me hope. If it weren't for you I would have drowned in the work by now."

"I want to give more girls that hope of being free," Lucie said, "Free to make their own decisions." Lucie gazed out at the ash filled city, "Go and bring the other girls up here it's about time we confront Blackbeard." Down on the beach Lucie could just see Blackbeard's crew making their way over to her ship with the devil himself in the lead.

* * *

Glad to finally get this chapter out. Hope you enjoyed reading.


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